Last Night Of The World

The Last Night of the World is one of the numerous stories out of the theoretical dystopian anthology, The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. The text depicts the transparent and placid nature human beings convey in daily life. Even whilst, in the case of the short story, being confronted with the ending of humanity, they are compliant with completing daily chores and housework. The narrative monitors a single day of a family of two young girls and their parents, who are conflicted with the dreams of the ending of the world. This conjuration of thoughts was shared with their colleagues, and supposedly the rest of the globe. This demonstrates the oblivious essence within the human psyche that even though the finish is near, they have the closure to be able to live solemnly in their last hours.
This is demonstrated in the way the husband’s co-workers react as Bradbury describes it near the beginning “…I went to the office and caught Stan Willis looking out the window in the afternoon, and I said a penny for your thoughts,” this idiom illustrates the dejection from reality that society faces, choosing to revert to when posed in these situations, rather than embracing their last moments of life with feelings of ecstasy and euphoria. It is also evident that the husband was aware of the worker’s thoughts, but still inquired. Further on Bradbury portrays the theme of the short story through description of the two young girls stating “The girls were laughing in the parlour” this enhances the tone of the discordant attitude the girls have towards their surrounding environment through the utilization of antithesis. Absolutely absentminded of the last day of the world coming to a close. This further shows how naïve the children are during the end, still contrasting Hobbes’ theory as they are at